Whats everyone reading?

[Sideshow Bob]

Got to agree with theblazeuk in his recommendation of Joe Hills' Heart Shaped Box......A very atmospheric 'chiller / horror' and astonishingly good for a 1st Novel....

His most recent novel NOS4A2 is a supernatural / horror tale about a Nosferatu 'type' and is very reminiscent of Stephen Kings' work...( Not surprising considering that King is his dad ) ...Great characterisation and vivid descriptions...Highly Recommended...

Also an extremely good graphic novel series is Locke and Key written by Mr Hill....I was recommended this by a couple of forum members, and would say that it's one of the best series I've read in a long time. Also Highly Recommended. ( and the series of 6 in TPB finishes in November so if you like it, you can get them all ).

Cheers

[pictsy]

I have put aside my Megazines for a little while and now I am reading RASL (by the amazingly talented Jeff Smith) that I got for my bday.  So far so good.  I also got the second TP of Hellblazer, so I'll probably be working my through that this month also.

[Colin YNWA]

RASL was brief discuss of at the Comic day Megathread and much love was given it - though as noted very different to Bone. Really enjoyed the first issue of Tuki by the talented Mr Smith so have high hopes for that too.

[Hawkmumbler]

Bone is phenomenal so I have high expectations for RASL. I never expected it to be similare, as anything akin to Bone would only pale in comparison.

On that note, has anyone read the Bone prequel Rose?

[The Adventurer]

Rose... is interesting. It doesn't flesh things out as much as you'd think. And its not drawn by Smith. But it is gorgeous, and quite good.

[Spikes]

The graphic novel for Dead Man's Shoes. Finally managed to track down a copy - a timely re-issue two years ago helped out there.

[I, Cosh]

Not long done with a reread of Simon Spurrier's run on X-Men: Legacy, as vocally championed by Mr YNWA of this parish. It's good stuff let down a little by an ending that seemed planned from the outset, irrespective of the allotted running time in between. It may not quite be Spurrier at his best but the first couple of trades in particular are full of ideas and that trademark wordplay which manages to hover just on the right side of the clever/lame divide.

I know who the X-Men are, but none of the central charactes were anyone I'd heard of. Apparently Professor X is dead and this guy Legion is his son with classic comicbook style multiple personalities and the shittest Scottish accent since whatsername from that ancient Essential X Men I read. Shades of Crazy Jane there but Spurrier keeps it fresh enough and introduces enough different voices to make it interesting.

The art throughout ranges from the half-decent to the serviceable but the covers by Mike del Mundo are consistenly fantastic. Each month, a witty, interesting or eye-catching take on something from the issue without ever being a stock pose or a reframing of an internal panel. Really enjoyed those.

Structurally it worked well too, with the standard 6 issue trades being broken down into 1, 2 and 3 parters usually complete but contributing to the ongoing storyline. I guess the nature of the X Beast demanded that this eventually be folded away and forgotten. The writer tries to undercut this with some stuff about stories and events having meaning even if they never happened. I'm not convinced but I admired the attempt.

[Colin YNWA]

The art throughout ranges from the half-decent to the serviceable but the covers by Mike del Mundo are consistenly fantastic. Each month, a witty, interesting or eye-catching take on something from the issue without ever being a stock pose or a reframing of an internal panel. Really enjoyed those.

A point well worth noting and I would often forget but the covers to this series were some of the best I can remember. Its one thing that Marvel do seem to do very right these days, they give very good cover.

[Link Prime]

I'll throw my two-cent into the ring regarding Spurriers current Marvel book; X-Force.
As of writing up to issue 7, and the pace has been nicely building.
Spurrier has a great handle on all the characters, in particular Dr. Nemesis.

Two major revelations recently, that really grabbed my attention in that good-ol way;

1) Cable [spoiler]dies every day. His body has been severely damaged, so he keeps it in stasis. Disposable clones are used on a day-to-day basis with a 'bullet point' thought-log recording that days main events, to pass on to tomorrow's clone.[/spoiler] A very interesting and fresh take on the character.
2) Fantomex is a jealous, insecure [spoiler]cold-blooded murderer! After Cable revealed his daily 'death' to his team-mates, Fantomex used the opportunity to carry out his hearts desire on a regular basis: secretly blowing the brains out of his 'boss' and feeding his carcass to sharks (NB- if cable doesn't die in battle, his 'normal' way to check out is by chucking himself into a fusion reactor every evening). [/spoiler]

The artwork by series regular Rock He-Kim isn't for everyone, but I really like it.
It's a solid Spurrier series- peppered with his trademark wit and throw-away inspired touches.
Recommended.

[Colin YNWA]

Well colour me intrigued as Incal is right at the top of my too read list and will be read in the next month I hope... will I get it, will I be prepared to work with it... the need to lose a desire for coherent narrative makes me nervous... ever way can't wait...

Well there is a coherent narrative in it, its just that there is a lot to understand in the book, like the whole book is full of the imagery of the standard deck of tarot cards. I don't get all references but the first two are obvious on the first panel of the first page. Jodo is a big fan of Tarot cards from a psychotherapy viewpoint, he wrote a massive book on it before.

Well read The Incal and had a reaction which I often get when I read something that is either lauded or loathed (or in this case it seems to be abandoned, but that didn't scan as well). I got on with it fine but didn't love it, I didn't have a massively strong reaction to it either way but enjoyed it enough to keep it to read it again in the future as there are certainly a whole host of things there that I'm not getting and the book appears to have depths that I skirted over reading it on quite a superficial level this time. Getting enough from it though to encourage me to work with it over time and see what else it gives me.

I know next to nowt about tarot from a psychotherapy perspective or any other... well aside from the Bond movie Live and Let Die... and while I looked a few things up I picked up on this time, I have to be honest I have no real interest in them (tarot cards) and that's the one thing that gives me doubt that I'll ever get a lot of the stuff it has to offer.

As it stands on my superficial reading, or at least not getting a lot of the references, its a break neck speed (man does it rattle along, even as a seasoned 2000ad reader at times it felt like it was rattling along too much) action sci-fi romp that is very satisfying on that level. It also clearly (to me) deals with the numerous trials we go though as humans to try to raise ourselves to a higher level of consciousness. Or rather the opportunities we have to do so that we miss as our pig headed ignorant attachment to our mundane selfish concerns stops us seeing the real value and worth of the trials we go through. So that in the end we don't achieve what we might and so are destined to make the same mistakes time and time again. Always plunging ahead, cast into a wondrous adventures, seeing marvels, achieving great things, witnessing great violence and terrors yet never embracing the gifts life can give us.

So yeah enough to intrigue. The detail (and thus the 'right' themes potentially') completely evade me.

Still fun and fuckin' hell Moebius was beyond good wasn't he.

[Dandontdare]

Dr Who - a history of the Universe in 100 objects.

Got this from the library and it's surprisingly good. Lots of these tie-in books are all style and no substance but this is really meaty. It's arranged in chronological order (from the beginning to the end of the universe); it manages to smoothly blend old and new Who; lots of quirky lists of Who-related trivia, backstage anecdotes and actual educational stuff about the origins of the universe and historical figures.

[Dandontdare]

double post, but I had to share: Did you know that the Space Whale in The Beast Below (The Doctor and Amy meet Liz Ten aboard Starship UK) was an idea by Pat Mills? It was originally conceived for the 2nd doctor and reconsidered for (I think) the 4th and 6th, but never actually got made until the 11th.

Edit: This says it was a Wagner/Mills script.

[Hawkmumbler]

I didn't know that. Beast Bellow could only could only have been better anyway.

[Theblazeuk]

I'm reading all of the Abnett Droid's Inquisitor series from Wh40k

Not as great as I remembered - Eisenhorn is actually quite a dull bugger alot of the time - but the usual penchant for battlefield prose and evocative world building serves the text well. Investigating demonic cults amongst the stars and the twisted cultures of aliens driven mad... well, I'll always bite.

[zombemybabynow]

Trifecta - again
utter bliss
not only because of [spoiler]the stories turning into one via the 3 ducks on the wall scene[/spoiler]

but one of my favourite artists: simon coleby's art is amazing and to top it off they have carl critchlow come in at the end

complete holistic thrills - everyone firing on full cylinders

hope something like this may be done again - ideally with wagner, boo cook, leign gallagher etc etc